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Maharana Bhupal Singh of Udaipur Riding in a Procession
Maharana Bhupal Singh of Udaipur Riding in a Procession

Maharana Bhupal Singh of Udaipur Riding in a Procession

Artist Pannalal Parasram Gaud (Indian, 1860 - 1935)
Dateca. 1930-35
MediumGouache and gold paint on paper
DimensionsImage: 29 × 51 5/8 inches (73.7 × 131.1 cm)
Sheet: 35 × 56 3/4 inches (88.9 × 144.1 cm)
Framed: 37 7/8 × 59 7/8 × 2 3/4 inches (96.2 × 152.08 × 6.99 cm)
Credit LinePurchase: acquired through the generosity of the Foyer Foundation, Constance Jaffray, and the Asian Art Acquisition Fund in memory of Laurence Sickman
Object number2023.13
InscribedRecto, lower border, written in devanagari script: "Maharajadhiraja maharanaji sri sri 108 sri bhopal singhji khadakji suncho padaravo asoj sud 4 ko chatrapat kalmi chitrakar pannalal parasaram god" A rough translation in English: "The king of kings, the maharana, his highness (H. H. ) 108 times, Highness Bhupal Singhji, listens to Khadakji (?) …. The fourth of the dark half of the month of October/November, this painting is from the hand of the painter Pannalal Parasaram Gaud.” Verso: Number' 1672 ....? 229; inv. no. 0/93; valuation Rs. 250
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DescriptionThis large scale gouache painting from Udaipur, India is horizontal in format. The paintng depicts a royal procession of Maharana Shri Bhupal Singh (r. 1930-1955) as he enters a small rural village, nestled beneath a pink, rocky hillside. Bhupal Singh is depicted in the bottom center of the composition sitting in a howdah and riding atop a caparisoned elephant. He is surrounded by attendants with fly whisks and bearing regalia and by courtiers and guards on foot wearing red or white kurtas. Additional courtiers ride ahead and behind him on horses as the procession winds from the right side of the compositon to the left and circles back towards a encampment of white and red tentage at the upper right corner of the scene. The village consists of a group of small mud-thatch houses that flank an earthen road in verdant, tree-filled landscape. Men, women, and children from the village stand to watch and welcome the king. In the lower left corner, small white tents and a low white building frame the scene, and offer a visual balance to the royal tentage on the right. Ahead of the king, another elephant moves in the procession, carrying an empty howdah that is draped with a transparent veil. A hillside rises quickly in the background at the top left of the composition. The hill is dotted with trees and brush that grows in clusters between rocky outcrops. This depiction is quite similar to the appearance of the mountainous landscapes around Udaipur. A white stone wall runs up the hill from an arched gateway, implying boundary markers of royal-owned territory. A blue and pink sky with bands of clouds fills the top right corner of the scene. The color palette of this painting is different than that of 18th and early 19th-century Mewar court paintings, particularly in the shades of green that are used. These differences may be due to the use of chemical pigments. There is a large water stain that runs horizontally across the bottom of the composition, which is visible on the recto and verso of the painting, although it has not caused much damage to the painting. The composition is framed by blue, white and rust-colored borders. A large inscription along the bottom painted in white and written in devanagari script identifies the subject and painter of the scene.Provenance

Purchased from Indian and Southeast Asian Art, Sotheby's New York, June 2, 1992, lot 153, by an anonymous New York-based collector, 1992-2023 [1];

Purchased from the anonymous New York-based collector, through Oliver Forge and Brendan Lynch, and the generousity of the Foyer Foundation and Constance Jaffray, by the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 2023.

Notes:

[1] This collector has requested to remain anonymous on public materials.  The collector's name has been shared with the Registrars and Curator for internal records.

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